On December 20, the UK notified 35928 new confirmed covid-19 cases, a new record for daily increase, with a total of 2040147 confirmed cases. In recent days, the sudden increase in the British epidemic is related to a newly mutated new coronavirus. At present, many countries including Denmark and the Netherlands have been infected with the mutant virus, and many countries have urgently restricted the movement of people in the UK.
British Prime Minister Johnson announced on the 19th that a mutated coronavirus is spreading in London and southeast England, at a rate 70% faster than the originally discovered virus. But he emphasized that there is no evidence that the mutant virus is more deadly or that the effectiveness of the vaccine against the mutant virus will be weakened. The British government has reported the discovery to the World Health Organization.
On the same day, the British government announced the tightening of anti-epidemic measures during the Christmas period, raising the level of epidemic prevention and control in the capital London and southeastern England to a new fourth level.
According to WHO, outside the UK, Denmark has reported 9 cases of mutated virus infection, 1 case in the Netherlands, and 1 case in Australia. In addition, Italy notified that, from a sample of a confirmed case, the gene of the new variant of the virus discovered in the UK has been extracted recently. The Italian Ministry of Health said that the confirmed case returned to Italy from the UK recently.
On the 20th, the WHO Regional Office for Europe pointed out that the spread of the epidemic in Europe is accelerating, and countries must double control and preventive measures.
On the same day, an unnamed official of the European Council stated that EU member states have exchanged views on the traffic ban measures taken to the UK. On the 21st, the EU will hold a crisis response meeting for further discussion to coordinate measures. In addition, the European Medicines Agency will also meet to recommend approval of the vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and the German Biotech Company.
